About the Author

Lori Palatnik is a writer and Jewish educator who has appeared on television and radio. She is the Founding Director of The Jewish Women's Renaissance Project, an international initiative that brings thousands of women to Israel each year from 18 different countries on highly subsidized programs to inspire them with the beauty and wisdom of their heritage (www.jwrp.org). She is a much sought-after international speaker, having lectured in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, U.K., Central America, South America, South Africa and Israel, including featured talks at Yale, Brown and Penn. She lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband, Rabbi Yaakov Palatnik, and is the busy mother of five children, ages 25 to 15.

The opinions expressed in the comment section are the personal views of the commenters. Comments are moderated, so please keep it civil.

Visitor Comments: 4

(4)
Anonymous,
May 11, 2014 8:40 PM

You are definetly wrong about it being a "Hallmark Holiday"

It was invented by a woman BEFORE Hallmark. It is a holiday that isn't just "for presents", it is to honor the Mother. You have a holiday to honor "trees" but not a Jewish Mother? You have a holiday of Yom Kippur to ask G-d forgiveness for sins WHEN YOU SHOULD BE DOING THAT EVERY DAY!!!!! I feel that Lori does NOT understand Mothers Day, who says that doing things for your mom or getting something for her on that day is wrong? I not only honored my Mother of Mothers Day when my mom was alive, but I also honored my grandmother when she was alive. You do not have this holiday because the Rabbis did not make it a holiday.

(3)
YossieF,
May 9, 2013 4:34 PM

I agree, up to a point

I agree that most of these "holidays" have been commercialized. But it is still nice to be remembered, and one can always choose to just go with the rememberance, and skip the overspending.As far as Anonymous's comment that some children lost their parents, that is ridiculous. That is like saying one should not get married, because another person has no Kallah yet. Life goes on, and we can all live it the way we choose. And yes, some people will be in pain, but that is life. We have to stop this political correctness. It is a disaster.

(2)
JB Destiny,
May 9, 2013 3:52 PM

Oy, vey, where do I start?

First, Mother's Day and Father's Day were established as national holidays in 1914 and 1972, respectively, through intense grass-roots efforts by private citizens of faith wanting to declare publicly the worth of mothers and fathers, not Hallmark. (Read the history, it's beautiful, especially Father's Day which took a century to have declared!) Valentine's Day is a Christian holy day that has been stripped of religious meaning and adopted by a secular world. Secretaries' Day is essentially a commercial creation, but not a horribly intentioned one. These shouldn't all be lumped together just to make a point. Second, yes, they've been commercialized. Hasn't every holiday, Jewish ones included? I'm not going to attack Hallmark, etc., over this. If you don't think it's appropriate, don't buy it; they don't force you to buy it. Finally, most importantly: we need to show our love and appreciation to Hashem every day. But there are times during the year that Hashem wants us to show it even more and publicly - the Shalosh Regalim, and especially Atzeret! Setting aside a day to PUBLICLY proclaim our love and appreciation for our mothers and then our fathers is not antithetical to Judaism, it's a logical extension of it. For aren't mothers and fathers partners with Hashem? And Hashem gets so many public declarations of love- let's give Mom and Dad (Ima and Abba, Mommy and Tati, however you call them) of them a day of public recognition as well!

(1)
Anonymous,
May 6, 2013 5:42 PM

Re: Mother's Day & Father's Day. I really detest the heavy advertising and all of the pressure to consume. What about the child (of any age) who has lost a parent? On those days that child (of any age) is being painfully reminded of his/her loss. We need to appreciate our loved ones every day. Re: Secretaries Day. That is merely an excuse for not paying a secretary/administrative assistant what she is worth. (Yes, I realize men do these jobs also, but this field is mostly dominated by women.) Thank you for reminding us of this important lesson! On an unrelated note, I thank you once again for providing close captioning. It is most appreciated!!

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